LDS Church: Posthumous baptism of 2 Jews wrong

Feb. 14, 2012 10:45 PMAssociated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - Mormon Church leaders apologized to the family of Holocaust survivor and Jewish-rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal after his parents were posthumously baptized, a controversial ritual that Mormons believe allows deceased people a way to the afterlife but offends members of many other religions.

Wiesenthal died in 2005 after surviving the Nazi death camps and spending his life documenting Holocaust crimes and hunting down perpetrators who remained at large. Jews are particularly offended by an attempt to alter the religion of Holocaust victims, who were murdered because of their religion, and the baptism of Holocaust survivors was supposed to have been barred by a 1995 agreement.

Yet records indicate Wiesenthal's parents, Asher and Rosa Rapp Wiesenthal, were baptized in proxy ceremonies performed by Mormon church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.

In a statement, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the baptismal rites.

The church apologized, saying it was the actions of an individual member of church -- whom they did not name -- that led to the submission of Wiesenthal's name.